Powerless
by Veedramon
Summary: The official story says that five years ago, the Powerpuff Girls died in the battle of Townsville. Barbara, Alice and Karen know the truth.
1. A dull night

**Names:**

_**Barbara= Blossom**_

**Alice= Bubbles**

_**Karen=Buttercup**_

* * *

_"All of them! It's all of them! Every strong enemy we have faced before save for those stupid copycat boys are attacking the city! How we are supposed to win this?" Buttercup asked. While she was usually the more violent and battle ready of the three, even she knew they were facing impossible odds._

_"We aren't. That's the idea; they are the bad guys, and they don't play fair." Blossom said then saw Bubbles crying_

_"Why? Why are they doing this? It's one thing if they hate us or they want to take over the city but... the city will be completely destroyed, even if we win!" Bubbles tried her best to be brave and hold her tears, but this... this was worse than even that time when Him, Mojo, Fuzzy and Princess teamed up and formed the Beat-Alls, because at least back then the city wasn't gonna end._

_"It's because they want to see us fall, but we have one thing they don't." Blossom said confidently, not because she had confidence, but because she had to appear brave for the sake of her sisters._

_"What? Doll like bodies? Big heads, freaky bug eyes?" Buttercup didn't want to sound rude, at least not this time, but it was her automatic response when she was scared, and she was really scared. Not for her, but for her sisters, not that she would ever admit it unless they forced her to, of course. She had a reputation to maintain._

_"We are a team. We are sisters. We have a bond stronger than anything they can throw at us. Okay, here is the plan..." Blossom got her two sisters close and started to whisper them the plan._

* * *

Barbara woke up, and then looked at the clock. It was three A.M. Why? Why she had been dreaming about that again? It had been five years; the others seemed to be doing okay. Why couldn't she get over it?

Barbara walked to the bathroom and looked at the reflection in the mirror. She still had long red hair with a triangular part and bangs. But that was the only thing familiar with who she used to be. Her eyes were green and she had normal hands with five fingers. Time had passed, and instead of being a five year old girl in kindergarten, now she was a ten year old in the last year of elementary school. Most of all, the thing that had got about a year to get used to; it was how... normal she looked. Sure is not like she was ugly, but... she missed her old life, she missed it a lot. What she didn't miss, the doll like body or the huge head. It was nice to be seen as a human being instead of some kind of freak.

Still... considering the alternative... it was a good thing the Pro- dad had did what he did. And it wasn't that bad, without those... distractions, her grades where the best in school. Alice had never liked to fight anyway, and now she didn't have a reason to. She was dedicated to her art and studding Japanese. Karen was the leader of the karate club and the captain of the female basketball team. Then why... why she had been felling this way? The dreams had gotten worse in the last few months, before she only got one once in a while, now it was every day.

Maybe she should talk about it with her sisters, or were those words she said five years ago a lie? When she was the leader, she had felt it was her responsibility to take care of everything, but that was the past. They were no longer a team, but they were still sisters.

The redhead washed her face and hand. Then she washed her teeth as she usually did every time she woke up and went back to her room, trying to get back to sleep.

* * *

_A blond girl with shoulder length hair and blue eyes was drawing a sketch of the forest. It was a beautiful day. She watched the cute squirrels and smiled. Alice may no longer be able to talk to them, but animals were still friendly with her. Then she noticed the strong wind and the dark clouds floating in the sky, and she was having such a nice dream! It wasn't fair!_

_The clouds covered the sky and the storm raged. Raindrops and thunder fell. Then there it was, a roaring pink monster, "GET OUT OF MY PROPIETY!"_

_"This isn't your propriety; this is the forest." Alice said calmly. Then the pink monster roared louder and he got bigger and red. Then Alice got scared, screamed and started to run away while the monster chased her._

* * *

Alice opened her eyes. Those dreams where getting annoying. Sure she knew they were just dreams, but why she was having them? It was always the same; she was usually sketching something in her drawing book and then one of those rude... people interrupted her and ruined her day. Was there some hidden meaning to them, some secret? Was her subconscious mind trying to tell her something? Of all of them, she was the one that didn't miss having powers at all. Okay that was a lie. She missed being able to talk to animals and knowing many languages. But the fights, the violence, seeing her sisters and friends getting hurt… that she didn't miss at all.

Then there was a soft whisper at her closed door. "Alice... are you ok?"

Had she screamed for real? She didn't want to worry dad or her sisters, but if she pretended everything was okay then her sister was just gonna worry a lot more.

"Yes, but you can come in if you want to talk."

The door opened, and a ten year old with short black hair in a boyish cut entered. She had dark brown eyes and was wearing a green nightgown. The girl then sat to the side of Alice bed. "Uh... I was just... worried. That's all."

"Karen, you had those nightmares again?" Alice asked her sister. She recognized the look in her eyes

"Yes, but when I heard you screaming, that's what really scared me. Are you sure you are alright?" Alice held Karen hand. It helped. It made her sister realize it was real, that her sister was still there. "We should tell Barbara. What if she is having nightmares to, what if..." Alice hugged her

"I know you worry for us, but they are just nightmares. They don't mean anything. We left that life behind, remember? What was it this time?" Alice asked, her voice sounded calm as if she had done this before.

"The Rowdyruff Boys where mocking how weak I am. They were destroying everything and..."

"You took a sample of Chemical X, but instead of getting your powers back, you turned into a monster?" Alice guessed

"How did you know?" Karen asked. She already knew, but it was part of their routine.

"It's that or becoming evil. Your nightmares are quite predictable." Alice wished there was another way to cheer up her impulsive sister, but this was the easiest way.

"Are you calling me dumb?" Karen said, pretending to be offended.

"Well it's a dumb fear, isn't it?"

"Yes, you are right... Why should I fear those stupid boys? I mean they haven't show up since the Justice Friends kicked them to kingdom come, and that was four years ago. And before that Monkey totally trashed them." After saying that Karen looked depressed since the girls had never able to defeat the boys without using cheap tricks.

"Well, do you feel better now? Or you want a safety blanket?" Alice hated herself for saying that.

"Of course I feel better!" Karen said and stood up. Then headed to the door, but before exiting the room, she looked to her sister and said, "Thanks."

**AN:** Thanks to death mega sega for beta reading this story


	2. A dull breakfast

**Names:**

**Barbara= Blossom**

**Alice= Bubbles**

**Karen= Buttercup**

**Anthony/Dad= Professor Utonium**

* * *

The City of Dullsville, a growing metropolis filled with all kinds of people. The major attraction of the city is not their zoo, not their central park, not the amusement park. No, the major attraction of the city is that it is a dull place where nothing out of the ordinary ever happens.

And in the city of Dullsville, it was breakfast time for the Smiths. As usual the girls' father was the one making breakfast, while he wasn't the best cook, and he still sometimes burned part of what he cooked, this time thankfully it didn't look like he had screwed up. Karen Smith was the first one to arrive at the table, but that was only because she had short hair and didn't waste as much time as her sisters did fixing it up.

"Hey dad, what's up?" Karen asked as she sat at the table, waiting for her sisters. After talking to Alice, she had been able to go back to sleep, then she noticed with a mock horror expression that there was some kind of strange machine near the table.

"Dad, Anthony, please tell me you didn't..." Karen started to say.

Her dad looked at the machine, then to his daughter and tried to apologize "I... well... I guess I woke early and..."

"Six months dad, they had us do conditioning and training for six months, so we didn't react when someone said one of our old names, or that we didn't try to play hero. Six months of being stuck in a military base learning to act normal. I don't want to do that again. No one wants to. If you fail, we all do." Karen said that as if was something she was used to saying.

Frowning, her dad started to dismantle the machine. "I am sorry, maybe if I got a different job..."

"DAD! Do you want some villain targeting us?" Karen asked.

"No! Of course not. But... maybe I could build you girls power suits and..."

"Daddy, you know why you can't." Stated Alice, just entering the kitchen. Her blond hair neatly combed.

"Yes, it would all start again. Sorry." The way their dad said it didn't sound like he was really sorry, but the girls didn't really mind.

Since their father was busy taking apart the machine, Alice went to continue making breakfast. It was the usual routine. At least once a week, their father would start building something; then one of the girls would catch him and convince him to stop and disarm the machine. At Professor 'Anthony Smith' job as a chemist, there was always someone watching him so he didn't create a monster by accident, or tried to recreate Chemical X.

For the sisters, learning to be civilians had been hard, but since they no longer had powers at least the temptation was held in check for the fact that as normal people even some regular thugs would be dangerous. But the Professor was naturally smart; his genius wasn't the result of a lab accident, or the use of a machine. Because of that, he was still smart and had to have people constantly watching over him when he was in a place where he got the resources to build and invent things. Normally they would have gotten him a better job than being a simple chemist, but since he tended to create his best inventions by accident, having him working anywhere where he could get access to advanced equipment or rare chemicals was a risk.

And when he didn't create something by accident... Well everyone still remembered Dynamo. Almost all the villains the Powerpuff Girls used to battle working together had been needed to cause more damage to Townsville than Dynamo. And unlike the girls, the villains had been trying to cause the damage!

As part of the deal that had given the former Utonium family their new lives, Dynamo had been given to the US army to use to battle threats in space, as the robot tended to cause too much collateral damage to use anywhere else. So far the robot had proven its worth by single handedly stooping an alien invasion, and that was the only reason they didn't dismantle it.

As Alice finished making the breakfast, Barbara finally went down to eat with her sisters.

"Slowpoke, I still say you should cut your hair shorter, like me." Karen said in a mocking tone.

"Well not everyone prefers looking like a boy, thank you. Besides I like it this way." Barbara was tired of this argument. Karen had been insisting about her hair all week!

"Looking like a boy? As if! Not with the school insisting we use skirts." Karen smiled and watched her 'officially' older sister cross her arms having a 'whatever' expression on her face.

"Girls, breakfast is ready." Alice served breakfast for the four of them before the useless argument her sisters were having escalated.

"So... anyway... any of you got plans after school?" Karen said, noticing the glare Alice was giving her.

"I've got to give a city tour to a new student." Barbara replied.

"Oh, what's her name? Where is she from? Is she smart like you? Does she like-"

"Alice! I don't know her name, she is moving from Citiesville and her grades are okay."

"How come you know about where she is from and her grades, but not her name?" Karen asked, getting curious.

"Well... you won't like this." Barbara stated, sounding nervous

"What will your sisters not like?" Questioned Anthony, who had just finished disarming the machine and was now sitting at the table.

"She... she is Robyn. Robyn Snyder and like everyone else from our old life, she thinks we are dead." Barbara said, then took a bit of her toast and drank some tea to avoid more questions, not like it helped.

"Just great." Karen groaned and proceeded to eat her breakfast in silence.

"Can I go with you"? Alice asked.

"Don't you have a reunion in your Anime Club after school?"

"Rule number 7." Alice responded with a smile.

"What's rule number 7?" Barbara asked

"Rule number 7 of the Anime Club; when a new student arrives to school, be friendly with him or her and try to make that person join the Anime Club."

"Are you two insane?" Karen exclaimed after finishing her tea in a single sip "We can't befriend her; it doesn't matter if we have new bodies and names. She is from our old life! Robyn will end up noticing something!"

"That's exactly why we have to befriend her. Alice is no longer childish and a crybaby, you are no longer aggressive all the time, and I am no longer a control freak. We have changed in more ways than just becoming civilians. If we get close to her, she is less likely to suspect that if we avoid her." Barbara then noticed how she had just acted, like she was still the leader "But... what do you say dad?"

The Professor noticed that his three daughters were looking at him "She was your friend. You know her better. I trust what you will do what is best."

"Ah whatever. But when things go south, I call dibs on telling that I told you so." Karen ate another toast, this one with a fried egg in it.

Barbara decided to not point out to her 'middle' sister that the fact she was worrying too much meant she no longer acted like when she was five. Instead, she decided to give a look to the newspaper. The family then continued eating breakfast, until something in the newspaper caught the redhead's attention.

"Uh... dad? Did you read the newspaper today?" Barbara asked, her skin tone looking somewhat paler.

"Not really, I was..." Her dad gave a look to the box where he had put the pieces of the machine "Busy... why?"

"Give a look at this." the redhead handed her father the newspaper.

"Former villain Jennifer* Princess Morbucks reveals project to rebuild Townsville?" The professor said incredulously "And she plans to rename it Morbucksville?"

"I don't see why that's so bad." Alice said, getting stares from the other three

"What are you saying?" Karen asked, looking at the supposed youngest sister like she had grown a second head.

"Look, the place has been destroyed for five years. The government declared it a disaster zone and never helped to rebuild because of the costs. So everyone was forced to move away. If she wants to have her own city, then let her. Considering how she did when she was a mayor, it will all come back to bite her back eventually."

"True, but she is probably doing it for the fame and glory, I bet she will end up saying something like she is doing what the Powerpuff Girls could not do." Barbara was holding her right hand under her chin, thinking about it.

"If she says that, then her popularity will go even lower. Besides didn't her dad put her on a short leash since she was one of the villains who helped to completely destroy the city in the first place?" Alice insisted

"Yeah, that was one of the few good things that came from that mess." Karen then looked at her wristwatch. "Five minutes until the school bus gets here, let's move!"

**AN:** Thanks to death mega sega for beta reading this story. *The name Jennifer comes from her voice actor. Please review!


End file.
